A connector of this kind shown in FIG. 6. Connector 50 has housing 51 of resin which is formed with two cavities 52 spaced apart vertically from each other. Engaging member 53 is formed integrally with the inner wall which defines each cavity 52 at the bottom, each engaging member 53 projecting toward a leading end (to the left in FIG. 6) and being supported at a base end only. A deflection space 55 formed below each cavity 52 for permitting the downward (i.e. in a direction transverse to the insertion direction of the terminal fittings) elastic deflection of engaging member 53.
While a terminal fitting 60 is inserted into the cavity 52 of the connector 50, the bottom surface of the terminal fitting 60 comes into contact with a projection 54 of the engaging member 53, thereby deflecting the engaging member 53 downward into the deflection space 55 as shown in the lower cavity in FIG. 6. When the terminal fitting 60 is completely inserted to reach a proper position as shown in the upper cavity in FIG. 6 and an unillustrated recess formed in the bottom surface of the terminal fitting 60 reaches a position corresponding to the projection 54 of the engaging member 53, the engaging member 53 moves upward due to its elastic restoring force, causing the projection 54 to be fitted in the recess of the terminal fitting 60. The terminal fitting 60 is lockingly held at the proper position in the cavity 52 by the engagement of the projection 54 with the recess.
In the prior art connector 50, in order to assure a sufficient margin for permitting the deflection of the engaging member 53, the dimension of the deflection space 55 in the deflecting direction of the engaging member 53 (vertically in FIG. 6) is set equal to or larger than the amount of movement of its leading end 53a resulting from the deflection of the engaging member 53.
When the terminal fitting 60 is to be removed from the cavity 52, a disengaging tool is inserted into the deflection space 55 to catch and pull down the engaging member 53 toward the deflection space 55, thereby disengaging the projection 54 of the engaging member 53 from the recess of the terminal fitting 60. If the disengaging tool is wrongly operated so that the engaging member 53 is excessively deflected during this removal, the engaging member 53 may undergo plastic deformation or, in worse cases, may be bent or broken. In order to avoid such an event, a wall portion 56 having a given thickness to assure the required strength is formed at the bottom of the deflection space 55. Excessive deflection of the engaging member 53 is prevented by causing the leading end 53a of the engaging member 53 to come into contact with the inner surface of the wall portion 56.
In some cases, the connector 50 is required to have a small size by reducing the dimensions thereof in the arranging direction of the cavities 52. However, the cavities 52, the deflection space 55 and the wall portion 56 need to have predetermined minimum dimensions, thus there is a limit in reducing these dimensions. As a method for reducing the size of the connector, consideration can be given to making engaging member 53 thinner. However, this is not preferable because the strength of the engaging member 53 would be reduced.
An object of the Invention is to provide a connector of smaller size which is, nevertheless, capable of preventing excessive deflection of an engaging member while assuring sufficient deflection margin and strength of the engaging member and the wall portion.